Course Director:
Dr. Romina Mizrahi and Dr. Neil Vasdev
Tel: (416)-535-8501 x4508 and (416)-535-8501 x4680
Course Description:
Positron emission tomography (PET) has become an important tool for the early detection of disease, the understanding of basic molecular aspects of brain function and the evaluation of medical treatment. This course will build on a multidisciplinary team involving chemists, physicists, image scientists, computer scientists and clinician scientists currently investigating brain diseases such as schizophrenia, mood disorders, addictions, geriatrics and movement disorders.
The principal objectives of this course are to review the fundamental concepts of PET imaging and to convey an understanding of the opportunities that PET technology offers in brain research and drug development. Specific issues will be addressed in a perspective to answer basic research questions:
1) The chemistry of labelling compounds with short-lived positron-emitting radionuclides; 2) The design of PET radiopharmaceuticals - impact on interpretation of scanning data (e.g. position of labelling, metabolism, drugs vs. ligands); 3) PET instrumentation - how does a PET scanner or a cyclotron work (physics)?; 4) How PET data is analysed (kinetic modelling, image analysis); How PET can be used as a tool in brain research and drug development.